Stars Hidden in Snow
by Burning Ice Phoenix
Summary: AU Arthur and Alfred spends the first day of vacation together playing video games, playing in the snow, and watching stars.


The weather was getting colder and Alfred F. Jones could just see snow on the horizon. The blonde grinned, he loved the snow, ever since he was a child because it was so rare; you had to wait a whole year before you finally get to that time period where it does fall. It was also a time when schools might close and you get to shape things with the snow. He could still remember when he first tried to build a snowman, that was years ago, but he got upset halfway because his mom didn't want him to stay out for so long and forced him to go back inside. He had been surprised to see it completed by someone else that next day. Blue eyes twinkled in delight at the memory, that was when he first met-

_Ding dong!_

The sound of the doorbell interrupted Alfred's thoughts as he turned away from the window that let him look out into the backyard and walked across the house to answer the door. A boy around his age was standing outside. Annoyed green eyes and furrowed thick eyebrows looked up at Alfred. "Took you long enough, you git!" He mumbled as he walked into the house without a care.

"Sorry, Arthur!" Alfred answered with an apologetic smile. "I was at another part of the house." He said as he took Arthur's scarf and hung it on a hook. Arthur had sat down on a stool and started untying his boots. "So whatcha doing here? Thought you were going to spend the holiday at your grandma's house over at England?"

Arthur smirked up at Alfred. "Hah, can't get rid of me that easily!" Arthur said as he untied his boots and placed them neatly by the rest of the shoes of the household. "We're going in a couple of days instead. Pa's job needed him to stay for a couple days more."

"Ok." Alfred said with a shrug. "So why to my place?"

Arthur stood up with a frown. "Something wrong with me at your place? You've always let me stay here!"

"Right, right, you can stay." Alfred replied with a teasing smirk. Their families were close after the Kirklands had moved into the neighborhood from England. Since they were little, they would go to each other's houses and stay for sleepovers and such.

"Can you believe it?" Arthur asked as he walked over to a window. "It's nearly Christmas time." Just as he was saying so, the first bits of snow were falling outside the window. "...Hey, Alfred, do you remember-"

"Wow! It's started!" Alfred exclaimed happily and ran to the window like a young child would. "I hope it sticks! I hope it sticks!" He repeated a couple of times before remembering that Arthur was still in the room. "Say, Arthur, how long are you staying today?"

"Huh...? Oh, er, would it be a problem to stay the night?"

"No, it's not? Why though?"

"Ahh, my dad's busy with work. He wouldn't say it, but I'm sure he'd rather not have me bother him. And Mum's out of state on some work."

"Oh." Alfred responded. "...Ah, actually, my parents would be home late today too." Alfred laughed, feeling just a bit foolish that he had forgotten to mention that fact. "So anything you want to do?"

Arthur looked thoughtful for a moment. "...You received a new video game from Kiku, didn't you?" He asked, a grin spreading on his face. "I can't wait to beat your arse in it!"

"What? Beat me? Oh Puh-lease!" Alfred said with a wave of his hand. "You'll be crying for your mommy in less than ten minutes!" Alfred taunted before racing upstairs to his room.

* * *

"Hurry on the plane!"

"Jump! How do you bloody jump again?"

"That button!"

They both let out a sigh of relief as the words on the screen told them they won. They had played some other games at first, but now they were killing zombies with Alfred's X-Box system. "That was awesome~" Alfred said with a chuckle as he glanced at the clock. "Wow! It's 8 already! We spent the whole day playing video games!"

Arthur glanced up and nodded, "Seems like it. And it appears that it's a good thing I don't live here." He said as he picked up the bag of popcorn and checked if there were anymore left in there. "I'd be more than overweight if I kept up your diet!"

"Are you calling me fat?" Alfred asked with a frown.

"N-No! Just saying you should eat something healthier."

Alfred glared at Arthur as if he didn't quite believe him and Arthur looked uncomfortable under the stare. Deciding that he didn't want to argue, he turned away. Arthur glanced out the window, seeing that the snow reflect pink everywhere. "Er...Hey! I think the snow did stick!"

"Hmm?" Alfred said as he ran over to the window to look outside. "Hey! You're right! Want to go outside?"

"Alright." Arthur agreed, but Alfred had already ran out of the room and down the stairs. Arthur took his time going down the stairs, the snow wasn't going to go anywhere and he'd much rather waste his energy in the snow. Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, Arthur saw the kitchen light open and saw Alfred bouncing about in it. "Alfred, what are you doing?" He asked as he reached for his coat and scarf.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm making some hot chocolate!" Alfred responded as he poured milk into a mug.

"But weren't you going to run around the snow instead?"

"But it would be cold~" Alfred complained.

"Here, I'll help out." Arthur suggested as he walked up to Alfred, reaching for the cup. "I'll go get some marshmallows."

"Oh, wait, Arthur, don't-!" Alfred had just pressed the button for dispensing hot water and it would hit Arthur. "Look out, move!" He yelled, grabbing the English boy's hand. Neither of them got burned, but they were both staring at each other awkwardly with Alfred gripping Arthur's hand tightly. "Oh, um...er..." Alfred's lips turned up into an awkward smile. "...Uh, you've got soft hands..."

Green eyes stared at him questionly as a thick eyebrow raised. "Um... Thanks?" He said as his cheeks painted red.

"Ah! Why don't you go outside first? I'll...I'll finish up here!" Alfred offered as he let go of Arthur and picked up the cup again.

Arthur nodded awkwardly before walking out of the room and into the backyard. As soon as Arthur left, Alfred covered his face, a slightly panicked expression on his face. "..." He breathed out a sigh and gathered himself before going to find a second cup to make a total of two cups of hot chocolate.

* * *

When Alfred walked out with the two cups of hot chocolate, Arthur had seated himself on the porch and was looking up at the sky. "Here you go~!" Alfred said with a cheery smile as he handed Arthur a mug. "Whatcha looking at?" He asked as he tried to follow Arthur's gaze, but all he could see was a pink sky due to snow.

"The stars, don't you see it?" Arthur said, still keeping his eyes upward.

Alfred furrowed his eyebrows and squinted, heels digging into the snow. "Mmm, I don't think so..."

"Look closely."

"That's kind of hard to do seeing how they're light years away!"

"Don't fool around, wanker!" Arthur exclaimed, slapping Alfred on the arm. "Look, right there," He took a sip of hot chocolate as he pointed at a shining point in the sky. "Rigel."

Alfred squinted, trying to look harder before breaking into a grin. "Hey! I see it! I see it!" He said happily and Arthur tried to cover his smile. It was always nice seeing Alfred happy and it makes him feel even better that he was the cause of it. "Wow, I'm starting to see more of them!"

"It's Orion."

"Orion?" Alfred repeated, frowning in confusion now. "...Wait, wait! I think I remember! Some Greek thing, isn't it? I remember it from Mr. Karapusi, the moments when he wasn't sleeping of course."

"...Uh, I was actually talking about English class..." Arthur mumbled. "Remember we had to read Odyssey? They mentioned Orion."

"They did? When?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Never mind, I went and looked up the actual story, but there was none, actually. Lost through history." Alfred looked as if he was losing interest as he drained half of the hot chocolate in his mug. "Listen, you git!" Arthur yelled at him before continuing, "He's the son of Poseiden-"

"Who's Poseiden?"

"Didn't you pay attention in Global class? He was the Greek God of water!"

"Ooooh."

"Ahem, so one time he got drunk and attacked this guy's daughter."

"Got _drunk_?" Alfred let out a chuckle. "That's it, this guy just became Ivan in my mind."

"...I don't think he was drinking Vodka. Anyways, the guy blinded him and he went to Helios-"

"Who's that?"

"The sun God." Arthur answered with a groan. "Are you going to bloody let me finish?" He snapped and Alfred cowered a bit. "Helios gave him his sight back and went to go kill the guy who blinded him. But that guy had escaped into the Underworld." Alfred looked like he wanted to comment and Arthur gave him a sharp glare making him close his mouth again. "The next part of his story that is known is that he works together with Artemis to hunt down every beast on Earth. That angered Mother Earth-" Alfred sniggered and Arthur could bet ten bucks that he had thought of Ivan who liked to refer to himself as 'Mother Russia' at times. "Well, Mother Earth then sent a giant scorpion to kill him. The scorpion succeeds, but the goddess asks Zeus to put him among the stars. Zeus agrees and puts both Orion and the scorpion up there."

Alfred was silent for a moment before asking, "You're done?"

"Of course I'm done! And here I bloody dared to assume that you were amazed by the story..."

"No, I'm amazed, but I don't see it!"

"Don't see it?"

"They're a bunch of points way up there, it hardly looks like a man..." Alfred mumbled. Staring at it through the lens of his glasses, Alfred, grinned and looked back at Arthur. "Haha, those old Greek dudes knew nothing!"

"W-What?" Arthur said, completely shocked; he just dissed the greek philosophers?

"I see a Happy Meal!"

"... What?"

"Over there! See, if you connect that point with that one and that one with that one and then over there..." Alfred drew out the bath with his fingers pointing at the sky, "See! Happy Meal!"

"...Alfred, you're an idiot!" Arthur teased as he punched Alfred lightly on the arm. "You can't just make up a constellation like that!"

"Huh? Why not? The Greek did it so why can't I?"

"Er... You just can't! I don't know, you just can't!"

Alfred pouted and was about to say something in return when he noticed something. "It's... It's snowing again!" He said, as he stood up and spread his arms out, looking up and doing a twirl.

"Oh, you're right... -! Oi! What was that for?" Arthur yelled as he brushed snow out of his hair. His question was just answered by another snowball to the face. "Hey!" Arthur yelled as he gathered nearby snow and threw it at Alfred. "Take that, git!"

"Ah! Ow!" Alfred said between giggles as he was pelted by multiple snowballs from Arthur. "I'll get you!" Alfred ran back to the porch and gather snowed before dumping it on Arthur's head.

"Aaaah!" Arthur screamed as the freezing snow melted against him. "You-! Get back here, don't run from me!" Arthur yelled as he stood up and chased Alfred around the yard. However, it wasn't long before Arthur was the one running away from Alfred.

"A-Ah!" Arthur let out a yell as he stubbed his toe on something covered by the snow, tripping on the ground and Alfred, who couldn't stop in time, followed suit. Emerald green eyes stared up at aqua blue ones and Arthur could see puffs of white air escape from both of their mouths due to the cold air.

Alfred could see that Arthur's cheeks were turning pink once again and he wasn't sure whether or not it was because of the cold air or from running around or... Alfred wasn't sure what he was doing, but in one quick moment, he leaned down and kissed Arthur.

Arthur was frozen in shock for a moment before melting into the kiss as well, arms reaching up and around Alfred to pull him closer to him. Despite the cold temperature and the snow all around them, the both felt completely warm and comfortable.

* * *

The clock chimed 12 as Alfred held Arthur in his arms, both asleep. The door opened, and two adults stepped in. "Al~ I'm home~!" She called as she helped her husband drag a large box in. "Al, it's Christmas Eve- Oh!" She accidentally let go of the box, making a rather loud thud on the floor, but neither of the teenagers on the couch stirred.

"Um, honey? What's wrong?"

"Shh..." She said, putting a finger on her lips and pointed with her other hand at Alfred and Arthur. "Bring the box up, I'll go get them a blanket~" She said as she left her husband to carry the heavy box into the house as she ran up the stairs to grab a blanket for the two.

After having heaved the box into the house and down into the basement where it will stay until late Christmas Eve. "Good thing they're asleep! I was worried that I'd have to make an excuse to hide the box!"

"Ah... Yea." Mr. Jones agreed as he stretched, he had a long drive that night so he was feeling just a bit cramped. "Now why don't the two of us get to bed too? I think I need just as much sleep as these two."

Ms. Jones giggled and agreed, taking Mr. Jones's hand and walked into their own room.

* * *

"Hey, Alfred, do you remember?" Arthur asked as they sat in the snow the next day.

"Remember what?"

"When we first met."

Alfred grinned, "Of course I do. We worked together on a snowman, without even knowing." He said as he placed a final touch on the snowman. "The magical top hat!"

"Magical? How so?"

"Because!" Alfred leaned down and kissed Arthur on the cheek. "I get to do that!"

Arthur's face turned red as he glared up at Alfred who grinned mischievously at him before taking off running around the yard all around the snowman they built together, just like when they were younger.

* * *

**I guess I should say that Ms. Jones here would be fem!America... Or at least her personality is since I didn't describe her looks... xD;;  
I googled up the stuff about Orion, I hope it's right. OTL I've never read Oddyssey either so I'm basing it off what I read in Wiki ._.;;;;;**

**De-Anon from the Kink Meme.**

**Merry Christmas! Get lot's of presents, keep warm, drink lots of hot chocolate, and have a great week off from school! ^o^**


End file.
